Unexcused Absence
by Oceanwind
Summary: "That was lucky," he said quietly. Sirius nodded, his brows furrowed together as he thought over something. "Think she'll start snooping like her little Slytherin pet did?" He shrugged. He honestly wasn't sure when it came to Lily Evans.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter. If I did we would have a lot more of this era :p

**Unexcused Absence**

"Not that I really care or anything but James has been absent for almost two weeks," Lily huffed. Her brilliant red hair seemed to blaze around her face perfectly and it gave him the impression that her hair was actual fire. She looked a bit scary right now, with those dangerous green eyes narrowed at him.

"Erm ya… he… you know…" he stumbled over his words thinking hard of what excuse he could possibly come up with. Lily was rarely ever short with him. To have her in a temper was just odd, it wasn't natural. That and when those green eyes glared at him he lost all sense of what he should be telling her. He had told the rest of the school the brilliant cover up story, so why couldn't he bring the words out now to lie to her?

"Lilly, dear, if you don't care then why are you enquiring?" Sirius asked smoothly sliding up to his side and saving him for her questioning onslaught.

Lily's eyes narrowed at the two of them and he felt himself shrink back slightly. Sirius didn't even look fazed, he grinned at her wolfishly as if he knew something.

"He's a perfect. God knows how that happened," she mumbled the last part under her breath before she straightened herself. "I have homework I need to get done and I've taken all the duties for the past two weeks. Tell him to go see Madam Poffery if he honestly isn't feeling well," she snapped and with that she turned on her heel and stomped off.

"Sheesh, Remus what did you do to get her knickers in such a twist?" Sirius mumbled and turned to look at him. He shrugged in an offer.

"I didn't do anything. Maybe she actually misses James."

They both stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

()()()()()()()

"Lilly I'm warning you. Don't go poking your head around in our business," Sirius growled. They were just about to head to class when they noticed that Lily was hanging back slightly. She was looking up at the Boy's Dormitory as if she was waiting for someone else to come loping down the stairs any minute.

"Your business? I thought he was just sick?" she asked. Everyone else had already headed off to class. Wormtail had already slipped off to class, probably oblivious to the fact that he and Sirius had noticed Lily acting strange and had hung back.

"He is sick. Really sick, now why don't you let him rest," he said tightly. He sent a warning look to Sirius as he slipped his hand into his pocket obviously contemplating some type of mischief. He flashed Remus a quick grin before winking.

"Unless you want to play Nurse for him Evans," he said in a quiet suggestive tone.

Lily's face instantly lit up in a blush.

"Shove off," she hissed as she stomped out of the portrait hole.

They exchanged a quick look.

"That was lucky," he said quietly. Sirius nodded, his brows furrowed together as he thought over something.

"Think she'll start snooping like her little Slytherin pet used to?"

He shrugged. He honestly wasn't sure when it came to Lily Evans.

()()()()()()()()

"Something isn't right," she told him. Her anger was gone but her eyes held mistrust. He felt his stomach drop. She had found out his secret. He was done for. He would be kicked out of Hogwarts now. He would have to go back to being homeless and being treated like a monster and worst of all with James with how he was…

"What do you mean?" he asked, wiping his palms on his pants in what he hoped was a discreet matter. He was proud that his voice came off even, all those years of hanging out with James and Sirius had led to his suave attitude when it came to being busted.

"Why is James still gone? It's been a little over two weeks… don't you guys care about him? Why won't you take him to Madam Poffery?"

He felt a flicker of anger at her accusation of not caring for his best friend before he pushed it aside. This was Lily he was talking to; she was just worried about James. She hadn't busted him, he smiled feeling himself relax.

"We've tried to convince him to go but he insists on healing himself. He says he has to take care of it," he offered to her.

She raised her eye brows in question but for the most part she continued to eat her breakfast in silence next to him.

"Is that why he is treating Sirius like a dog to fetch him his meals every day?"

He had to hold back his laughter and coughed violently into his napkin. He was still grinning as he glanced over to her. She had no idea how right on the target she was.

"Sirius loves to play fetch," he told her still grinning and the lines on Lily's face disappeared for a moment as they fell into a fit of laughter.

()()()()()()()()

"I'm sick of being lied to Remus Lupin. You tell me what is going on right now or so help me I will hex you –"

"Lily, calm down," he said wearily. His head was pounding in his forehead and his body felt like it had been run over by a herd of Giants. He let his head droop over the side of the chair and propped his feet up next to the fire. He just wanted to sleep. Last night had been one of the hardest werewolf experiences he had ever had. With James missing and just Wormtail and Padfoot he had apparently been a bit rambunctious. He winced as he tenderly grabbed his side. He had been flung into something last night.

Lily had been silently watching him the whole time. Her face flickered through a range of emotions. She was sitting almost uncomfortably close. Sirius and Peter sat across from them watching the exchange wearily as they pretended to do homework.

"You know I know don't you?" she said quietly after a moment.

That caused him to sit up fully and stare at her.

"You know?"

"She knows?" Sirius said ignoring his homework now and scooting closer them. Peter's face fell and he stared at his homework with a blank expression. They both looked slightly paler and he was sure his pale face and lost a bit of color at her statement as well.

"I don't care that you are what you are Remus. You're a friend. I'm just upset that you are going to continue lying to me," her green eyes filled with tears and she looked like she was going to cause a seen and draw attention. He quickly pulled her into a hug trying to hide her sniffles in his shirt. The last thing he wanted was her group of girl friends to come running over and chaste him for making her cry. Drawing her into a hug though was bound to draw a lot of attention as well. He needed to make this fast he lowered his lips to her ear.

"Lily I need to you say what I am," he said quietly in her ear. She shivered. He had his reasoning though he had to know that she truly knew and she hadn't jumped to some other conclusion. He tried to ignore the fact that this was the closest he had been to another girl in a long time and he focused on the fact that this was his best friend's (almost) girlfriend. That seemed to work.

"Werewolf," she whispered. He nodded feeling her stiffen in his embrace. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Sirius was giving him an odd look and Peter just look plain lost and uncomfortable.

"Pull yourself together Evans. How would it look for everyone to see Potter's girl being held by another man?" Sirius teased after a moment.

They were grouped close by the fire talking in low voices that no one would ever notice in the loudness of the common room. Only it seemed like the room had grown quieter without Sirius and James causing a ruckus the past few weeks.

"I am not Potter's girl," she hissed sitting up and pushing herself away from him.

No matter how much she denied it they all knew who she belonged to.

"So what happened to James?" she lips quavered. "He's not… dead is he?"

There was a moment of silence among the group. A moment of anger flared in all three boys before finally they all combusted into a fit of laughter.

"You are good Evans," Peter squeaked.

"Remus would never hurt us you idiot," Sirius barked.

"Do you honestly think we could keep a murder quiet?" Remus laughed.

Lily was flushed a brilliant red.

"Alright, enough of this. I want to see him," she said firmly and stood up. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the three of them.

It was one thing for her to know he was a werewolf. He felt something deep for her quick and instant trust for him. It was just like James and Sirius. That understanding was that of a true friend. He didn't' care that she knew he was a werewolf he trusted her with that. It was plain to see that her doubtful questions had come from her concern for James, he had been missing for two weeks and it was obviously affecting her. However, it was entirely different for her to ask this. This was a question that would finally lump them all together and possibly get them all expelled. He had to be more than one hundred percent sure that she wouldn't go running off and go tell Snape all about this. Although, now that he thought about it she hadn't really spoken to Snape this year all that much.

"No can do Evans," Sirius said coolly crossing his arms in front of his chest and leaning back against his chair. His eyes narrowed at hers just as hers were narrowed at him. The air tensed considerably.

"If you don't let me see him right now I will go to Dumbledore," she said firmly.

Sirius's eyes flashed and if he had been the type of person to be shocked his jaw would have dropped. In fact Remus's did, and Peter's hung agape and that lost look returned to his eyes.

"Alright," Remus said standing up. He looked over her wearily. "But you have to go on a date with him after he gets better."

Her mouth hung open for a split second and he could tell she was just dying to hex him in a thousand different ways. He could tell she was equipping herself for a verbal battle, and she was normally the one that won. He wasn't about to let her though.

"It's the only way I'm going to trust you with this," he added quietly. Lily's eyes glazed over as she contemplated her options. It didn't help that Sirius was smirking and not trying to hide his laughter at her expense. He shot him an angry look and his friend at least had the decency to hide his smile behind his hand as he pretended to stifle a yawn.

After several long painstaking seconds Lily nodded.

"Just a date, right? It doesn't have to be long or a full day? Just eating or something?"

It was cute how almost nervous she sounded.

"That's all I ask," he said quietly trying to keep his tone calm as to not scare her away from the idea. He hid his smile a lot better than Sirius.

"Okay," she agreed.

Slowly Sirius stood up and made a show of stretching and then in a loud voice he said, "Alright Evans I'll give you back your book. Follow me."

It was funny how often they tried to cover our tracks for no reason whatsoever. It wasn't like anyone but Lily's little Slytherin pet was suspicious of them.

()()()()()()()

They led her up into their room. Sirius stopped before knocking in three quick rapid taps on the door before calling loudly, "Are you decent Prongs? We have a guest."

That didn't stop Sirius from barging into the room or even slow him down. It was just common courtesy in Sirius's world to at least let someone know that one was coming into the room with a guest, but he didn't give any time for the person on the other side of the door to respond. James however didn't look phased. He was on his bed flipping through a Quidditch magazine. He didn't even bother to look up.

"Who is it this time? Hagrid? Dumbledore? I'm half expecting Madam Poffery to drag me from my room any second now," he said lazily as he gazed over his book. His eyes locked on Lily, then frantically to Sirius and then back to Remus.

"Umm… hi," he said nervously. His hand went up on reflex to mess up his hair but it stopped short in its run by the long antlers that protruded out of his scalp.

"Hi? That's all you have to say is hi?" Lily snapped. "You've missed class for two weeks because you have antlers?" she hissed.

"Well… you know long story…" he said smiling and still trying to recover.

"You have a lot of explaining to do Potter," Lily hissed. Her eyes were narrowing dangerously again as she studied his antlers.

"Well here's your book Evans," Sirius said stuffing a large copy of 'Hogwarts a History' into her hands before grabbing Remus and dashing out the door.

Loud voices arguing echoed after them and Remus half wondered if it was okay to leave them alone together. He was worried that James might not be able to defend himself. His antlers had left him off balance and unable to walk properly the past few weeks. That and he wondered how much James would tell Lily about how he got those antlers.

Sirius laughed loudly and brought him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"It's awfully quiet up there now isn't it?"

Remus stiffened and listened for any noise before he grinned wolfishly at his friend.

"James really owes me for finally setting him up on a date with her," he said grinning. He felt himself relax. If Lily was finally in on their little secret then they really had nothing to worry about anymore.

"You can say that again," Sirius barked.

"James really owes me-"

"Shut up you dolt," Sirius laughed and pushed him playfully.


End file.
